233 – Static

Deep in the heart of nowhere, near a place called Abbey Marston, there’s a caravan site. The perfect place to get away from it all. Close by, there’s a stone circle they used for human sacrifice in olden times. A little further afield, there’s an old RAF research station, where they did hushhush things in the War.

There’s only one rule: the use of radios, cassette recorders and portable televisions is strictly forbidden.

People come here to get away from it all, you see. No-one wants to hear the noise. No-one wants to hear the voices in the static…

No-one wants to hear the ghosts.

1 Comment

Styre
on January 17, 2018 at 8:33 PM

STATIC

It’s refreshing to have a monthly range trilogy be good from start to finish, and that’s what we get as this trilogy wraps up with “Static” by Jonathan Morris, a strong, atmospheric tale that tries to spook the listener and occasionally succeeds. A couple of significant flaws keep it from the highest level of Big Finish, but it’s well worth hearing.

The Doctor, Constance, and Flip land near a caravan park in the middle of nowhere in 1980s England, near a place called Abbey Marston. (Is Morris a Red Dead Redemption fan?) A young couple, Joanna (Pippa Nixon) and Andy (Scott Chambers), along with caretaker Percy (David Graham), are the only people staying there, trying to save their relationship from the traumatic death of Joanna’s sister Susannah (Jo Woodcock). It turns out that the area around Abbey Marston is unique in one particular way: strong, powerful memories of the dead can temporarily bring them back to life, emerging from a dense fog. There’s not much to say about the plot, although the trip back to WWII is both an effective use of time travel and Constance’s background, but there are some significant character beats that merit discussion.

The process through which the dead return is exploited by a race called the Static, and while it’s far too complex to explain here, it ends with the Static inhabiting duplicate bodies of the dead. Naturally, they’re evil and must be stopped, etc., but prior to that, when the Doctor thinks they are inhabiting the actual bodies of the dead, he is absolutely appalled. Let the dead rest in peace, and so on – which is exactly the opposite position from his ninth incarnation in “The Unquiet Dead.” There, he’s furious that Rose would even suggest it’s a bad idea – at least until he discovers those aliens are also evil and want to take over the world. I know it’s too abstract a connection to flesh out directly, but wouldn’t it be great if we got some Time War stories about the Doctor’s shifting moral priorities? I live in hope.

More significant is the Doctor’s decision to command the younger Percy to abandon his life to that point and serve as caretaker of the resurrection zone. Since the Doctor experiences events in reverse order, it fits what he knows to be true, but it’s an uncommonly callous decision. His companions even point this out, but when Percy (naturally) perishes heroically, the Doctor reveals that some of Percy’s last thoughts offered thanks. This is an incredible cop-out by Morris: Percy spends much of the story visibly unhappy about his situation, and having him come to a totally unearned catharsis seems to be nothing more than a way to prove that the Doctor was right all along. Why not a story in which the Doctor makes a difficult decision that saves the day but earns lifelong anger from and is never forgiven by the object of that decision? Why not then show the Doctor struggling with this? I know Morris is more than talented enough to write that story, after all. Or is it down to Colin Baker himself, who seems content to play his Doctor as a cuddly old grandfather who no longer has any challenging or difficult facets to his personality?

And while there was no time to explore it in this story, here we see a massive, irreversible change to Constance, as she exits the story in a “sham” body, having died in a fire before being resurrected. Going forward, she should be dealing with severe trauma and even an identity crisis. Will future stories with this crew fully embrace and explore the fallout of this story? Or will it be largely ignored? Sadly, I fear the latter.

Let me be clear, though: “Static” is a very good Doctor Who story. Director Jamie Anderson, along with sound designers Joe Kraemer and Josh Arakelian, has produced an incredibly atmospheric, spooky tale. The acting is strong across the board, particularly from Lisa Greenwood, who gives one of her best-ever performances as Flip. This is helped by Morris respecting the character, of course; it’s always refreshing when the writers don’t treat Flip like a complete fool. The ad copy is just comically over the top, so don’t trust it when it says ludicrous things like “Static” being on the same level as “The Chimes of Midnight” – but don’t let that deter you, as this is definitely worth hearing.